For most of this week, American soldiers in the Marine battle group preparing for likely action in Venezuela will be in Trinidad for joint exercises with the local military. Still, many are skeptical about the real reasons behind the second such activity in about a month.
The main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and some civil society actors are demanding full explanations from the administration about the presence of warships and soldiers on Trinidadian soil, even as the Trump administration has openly stated its intention to take military action against the South American nation.
Part of their reasons for the rising levels of skepticism has to do with the fact that the local government is openly supporting whatever action the U.S. takes in Southern Caribbean waters, and how any attack on Venezuela will eventually play out. The administration has even offered Trinidad as a base to the U.S. if Venezuela ever attacks fellow Caricom member state Guyana to enforce its long-held claims to local territory.
Late Sunday, PM Persad Bissessar said American attacks on alleged drug boats and their general presence in the area have resulted in a safer Trinidad. She remains unapologetic about her country’s open backing of the U.S. against a neighboring state with which it has long shared close ties.
“To win the fight against organized crime, we must strengthen and modernize our crime-fighting capability. These joint exercises with the United States are a critical step in enhancing the TTDF’s readiness, intelligence capability, and operational strength. The U.S. presence in the region has already contributed to a significant reduction in the trafficking of guns, drugs, and humans into our country. As a small nation facing transnational criminal networks, T&T benefits immensely from this partnership with the world’s leading superpower. For too long, our citizens, from the elderly to our youth, and even innocent babies, have been slaughtered mercilessly by brazen criminals who profit from their connections to cartels and narco-terrorists,” she said in a social media post.
But former Security Minister Marvin Gonzales and former Foreign Minister Amery Browne both want authorities to fully explain the reasons behind a second deployment of American soldiers and warships to Trinidad, at a time when the U.S. has made it clear it is readying for military action against Venezuela. They think such support can only harm Trinidad-Venezuela relations in the long run.
The exercises, the second in a month, will involve the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and run from Sunday, November 16, to Friday, November 21.
“The U.S. War Secretary on one day this week announced that he has activated Operation Southern Spear, and the very next day, our government announces the arrival of a U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit in Trinidad and Tobago,” Browne said. He noted that people in the federation with Tobago are “observing the deployment of the largest aircraft carrier ever built and so many other naval assets in a massive armada that is designed to engage in warfare against nuclear superpowers. Yet the government expects people to believe the assets are here to shoot alleged drug pirogues, to paint schools in T&T, and conduct periodic training exercises,” The Guardian newspaper quoted Browne’s statement. He argues that citizens can “connect the dots.”
Meanwhile, Gonzales thinks there is more to the joint military exercises that both sides are letting on.
“The prime minister must come clean and tell the population what other ‘deals’ she has made with foreign partners that she is desperately hiding from the people of Trinidad and Tobago. It shows that she cannot be trusted under any circumstances.” The withholding of critical information from the public can cause panic and unease in society, he argued.
And in a social media post on the issue, the U.S. mission in Trinidad said that the military’s “presence in the Caribbean supports the U.S. South Com’s mission to promote regional stability, counter transnational threats, and enhance disaster response capabilities. So far, the U.S. has attacked more than 20 alleged drug boats both in the Atlantic and the Pacific, killing more than 80 people.
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